The exterior shell of the 2012 Kindle Fire is essentially identical to its 2011 predecessor, the new Fire still uses a dual-core OMAP 4 SoC from Texas Instruments, but clocked at 1.2GHz rather than 1.0GHz.

The 2012 Kindle Fire has the same 1024×600 resolution as the previous device. At 169ppi, it’s not as crisp as the 216ppi 1280×800 screens on the Kindle Fire HD and the Nexus 7, but it’s fine for reading.

The good
No artificial software limitations relative to the Kindle Fire HD
Small hardware upgrades over last year’s model
Cases and accessories made for the 2011 Kindle Fire will all be compatible
Still fundamentally a decent low-cost tablet

The bad
The Kindle Fire’s design is looking and feeling ever-more chunky next to the Kindle Fire HD and Nexus 7
Amazon’s Android skin is still a bit jerky and slow, and the Silk browser is still faster in Amazon’s advertising than it is in real life
More and more advertisements are encroaching on the stuff you actually want on your tablet but if you take the coupon code and get the version with out advertising you’ll be coming out on top!